We have an election here tomorrow which some of you who are not of these Isles may have picked up from the news. It’s been a wearisome four weeks, I have to confess, and I’m beginning to feel just a little battle fatigued. Still, there have been some fun moments and I’ve made lots of new friends.
I’ve been helping out mostly in my local constituency, Kensington and Chelsea in central London, one of the safest Conservative seats in the country, so there is no real challenge. But I’ve also been co-opted to leaflet in one or two more marginal constituencies, where the mountain is that much bigger. Yes, I have come across some opposition but people remained essentially decent and polite, if some of the men became – how shall I say? –just a shade too amorous. :-)
I’m a Tory; I’ve been a member of the Party since I was fifteen. It’s more than a political or ideological commitment for me; it’s an act of love, if that does not sound too grand. I love the history of the Party, its past greatness and its future prospects. Above all, I love its ability to change and adapt with time and circumstances, to meet all sorts of challenges.
For me the Tory Party is the true Party of the people, the Party of Freedom. We are not monsters and we don’t eat babies! I think David Cameron will make a super Prime Minister; he is a decent, kind and genuine man, such a contrast with the phoniness and the artificiality we have had since 1997, such a contrast to the likes of Nick Clegg whose only message is ‘vote me.’ No matter, we will see what tomorrow brings. Long may the torch of freedom burn.
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" I love the history of the Party, its past greatness and"....sorry that's where the sentence tails off in my version.
ReplyDeleteBut if if didn't do I'd say "I love the history of the Party, its past greatness and promise of solid Tory principles for future Government as embodied by the UK Independence Party". I do love it's ability to adapt and change also though, it's been the key to her survival. Perhaps even Cameron may change for the better.
All jovial partisanship aside, after his speech on Unionism, in spite of the deep reservations myself and many traditionalists hold, I wish the Tories well the same way I'd wish well an old friend whose made some rotten decisions, but who is still a fundamentally good person. I'd not have been prepared to say this but two days ago, but Dave's speech in Belfast was truly heartening to a man who greatly admires the most famous Ulster Unionist MP of the 20th century.
My prediction--Tory majority of 66. Labour descent into violent civil war, as Mandy tries to become judge, jury and Kaiser.
Maybe you'll just say that if it were between a party lead by Lord Pearson, Gormless Brown and Corporal Clegg, you too would join with the older of the two Old Etonians leading a party in this election.
Sixty-six, I wish, I wish. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's my prediction, gut feeling...we shall see.
ReplyDeleteAna though--doesn't one technically need to call it The Tree of Freedom? That being said at this time tomorrow night, I suspect you shall be happy, and if something interesting happens in Buckingham so shall I!
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ReplyDeleteYou bet it is!
ReplyDeleteOh dear. I am sitting here and it is mid-day; with you it is six in the morning and the election night coverage is just ending on Radio 4, which I can get on my computer.
ReplyDeleteIt now looks as though the Conservatives have been unable to sweep away Labur as they should by any reasonable calculation have found an easy task.
Labour has not had the help of the Lib Dems who have failed at the ballot box yet again and so Labour have managed to hang on against all the odds. Yet the Conservatives have not been able to take seats from the Lib Dems. There will almost certainly be a hung parliament of the most awkward kind.
Why has this come about? Labour has bought the electorate and they are in a recession and won't vote to have their benefit incomes slashed. The Civil Service won't vote to be cut. Students need to be bought into work. There are no jobs and no sign of any because no one has a plan for an industrial renewal.
Dogma and ideology are passe in situations like this. The country is only just surviving and its economy is seriously under threat from a debt burden that is now unsupportable.
The only bright spot is that the country may be forced to approach the World Bank and the IMF for a loan. In that case outside economic experts will design the recovery without political imperatives to worry them. The creditors will say what has to be done. It is a weird thought that once again the British are looking in the wrong direction when their sovereignty is threatened. It is not the EU; it is the East that will take decisions on Britain's future.
The East will be progressively influential throughout Europe as they tell their customers what they have to do to correct their economic balances so that they make some money to buy more manufactured goods from the rich producer countries. A complete reversal of the old colonial situation without the need to control the countries physically; you simply hold their economies in thrall.
Couldn't agree more. Sad that the party will have to barter for influence, and see its manifesto diluted.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Society is a good idea. Localisation of power is what we need if our people are to be re-enfranchised. Government spending must be cut if we are to pull out of this recession before permanent damage is done.
I'm letting all my followers know that I'm moving to a new blog!! Please follow me at my new home!
ReplyDeletehttp://fashionmusingsofasmalltowngirl.blogspot.com/
Invictus, yes indeed.
ReplyDeleteKayla, I'll be sure to come after the weekend.
John, this is what I wrote on the My T site on Friday morning. It's as much as I want to say for the present.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been up all night. I’m both tired and ever so slightly intoxicated. I should go to bed; I shouldn’t be writing this; I’m being told not to write this, but I never listen to advice.
It’s been a perplexing night; things are still not clear even as I write. But of one thing I have no doubt: Brown and Clegg have lost. Now watch them try to do a deal, those failed men, those men of yesterday. Watch Brown try to cling on to power with his nails; watch him wreck this country still further. Watch Clegg try to secure more seats for his tired old party, again at the expense of this country, a victory of section over nation.
The people, it would appear, have voted for a hung parliament, a parliament of backstairs deals, a parliament that may in turn hang the nation. The fight is not over; in a very real sense it has only begun.
Colin, sorry; your post was accidentally deleted. I'm re-adding under my own name. Sorry for the confusion. :-)
ReplyDeleteHello Ana
Have just read your latest(last?) post on MyT. The messy and still uncertain outcome is obviously not to your liking, although I'm still not clear why that should be a factor in your decision to abandon what is admittedly an infuriating site (one for which I too have no further time or patience).
If you had hoped, as indeed many of us had for a clean unequicocal debut for David C as a leader with an overall majority, then I wonder if it's overlooking one thing - that Conservatism with a big C has been temporarily stifled by the electorate's attachmrnt to the small c variety. Was it a case of some preferring the devil they knew, rather than the untested Cameron, in dealing with the deficit and debt? If that's the case then a messy interim period may be needed to allay doubts and fears. Then watch Labour and probably the Lib Dems too see a catastrophic fall off in support at the next GE, say in a year's time? Ken Clarke should be Chancellor - safe pair of hands- his love affair with the euro having probably, hopefully, been crushed by recent events.
Am presently in Prague, spending Czech krona, often with litle idea what they are worth when I settle up bills. Oh, the romance, the nostalgia of feeling one's back in quirky Old Europe.
Ana,
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you back on line in some form--though I must say, no one has yet challenged my fatwas against first past the post in the other place.
Cheers
It was a combination of things, Colin. Yes, I was in a bad mood on Friday afternoon, but it was more than that. I was getting tired of the sheer pettiness of the place.
ReplyDeleteAdam, all I ever did elsewhere was for the sake of this blog, for the sake of Project Ana.
ReplyDeleteYes Ana, I agree whole heartedly. As I said in the comments on your departing message, you belong in pastures greener--which is here. I make no apologies for revelling in the gutter in guttural places--but would never seek to take the slime out of the slime pit. There are four seasons, not one--and from the frost of winter shall bloom the flowers of spring.
ReplyDeleteThe World Bank and IMF are terrible. I don't see that as a bright spot. Maybe it is in the developed world. But, for developing nations those organizations have a thing called: structural adjustments programs.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've heard about your election is not that bad. At least your politicians aren't cunts.
Your Westminster Parliamentary System has MP's elect their leader. That is something we don't have in Canada, but Party hacks that do it. MP's here have to tote the line, from what I've read your MP's don't necessarily have to do that.
Anyhow, I just descend from the isles back three generations.
The there are two things I don't agree with on this post. Mister Cameron being genuine. Now I am relating this in the politician sense. Maybe, he is in his personal realm. I just don't believe any politician from any party is honest. The next thing is the true party of the people and of freedom. I believe in freedom of speech so that is no problem. In my opinion that is a polarizing position to have. It is like the tone of politics in the USA right now. Where Republicans argue that they are more American than Democrats. This can be seen a bit in Canada with our Conservative Party (mind you has no Red Tories anymore, since it merged a couple years ago to form a neo-Con party), where if someone questioned the Afghanistan quagmire you would be seen as not Canadian enough.
The one thing I enjoyed about your election was your signs. I saw some facebook thing where every parties signs were defaced some Gordon Brown ones were funny and I enjoyed a Suspicious Minds one of David Cameron.
Best of luck with your coalition or minority government though.
Question is are you a fan of first past the post?
My little conservative voice inside me says let things be.
I shall follow that project with interest. :)
ReplyDeleteHello Ana
ReplyDeleteGood to see you here. Hope to read something fresh by you soon.
Jimmy, yes, I am. It makes for strong government with a clear programme. PR makes for weak government and horse-trading.
ReplyDeleteRainer, welcome, welcome, welcome. :-)
Shermeen, I'll be adding some more tonight but in the meantime do drop in to My T. There is a surprise there. :-)
You too, Adam.
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ReplyDeleteOC, I'm happy that the Conservative Party made one of the most significant electoral advances in its history, unhappy that it fell short of of coming to power in its own right. What is happening at the moment is bad for the country, bad for democracy. If we ever have PR this unseemly bargaining will be a regular part of our politics.
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ReplyDeleteOC, yes, that's true, but some take weeks to reach agreement. Sometimes governments have to be radical.
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